The Central Administration for Statistics revealed the growth of the Kuwaiti economy by about 0.4 percent in 2019 compared to 2018, as the estimated value of the gross domestic product at constant prices amounted to about 39.4 billion dinars.
The initial estimates of the quarterly GDP showed that the current prices fell by 3 percent in the fourth quarter of 2019 compared to the same quarter of 2018, announcing that the estimates of output at constant prices showed a growth of 2.6 percent compared to the third quarter of 2019.
In addition, the International Monetary Fund expected Kuwait's GDP to shrink by 1.1 percent this year, affected by the economic shock caused by the outbreak of the Corona virus, after it recorded growth of 0.7 percent last year.
The Fund’s report on the outlook for the global economy predicted that the Kuwaiti economy will recover in 2021, expecting the GDP to grow by 3.4 percent next year.
Regarding inflation in Kuwait, the report expected that it will drop to 0.5 percent this year, from 1.1 percent in 2019, and that its growth will reach 2.3 percent next year.
As for the current account, the fund said that it is more likely to shrink and turn into a deficit of 10.2 percent in 2020, with the pace of deflation slowing in 2021 to 7.8 percent.
Source (Al-Rai Newspaper-Kuwait, Edited)
